LOGINThe first thing Damien noticed when his eyes fluttered open was her familiar warmth. Aria was curled against him, tucked close as though she were glued to the bed, her cheek resting over the steady rise and fall of his chest. Strands of her hair tickled his chin, and instead of stiffening or shifting away, he let himself lie still.He lifted a hand, fingers brushing lightly through her tangled locks. Silky strands slid across his calloused touch, and the smallest sound escaped her lips, which was a soft hum, content even in sleep.The sleep continued for a while before she suddenly sneezed. His eyes slammed shut in the unexpected situation before he slowly opened them again, trying to contain his laugh, but his chest betrayed him and beat faster, making her stir.When her lashes fluttered open, their gazes collided. The instant she realized where she was, she jolted upright, but only halfway, because the next second she folded back into him, arms clinging desperately around his torso.
I couldn’t stop crying.The chamber was thick with the smell of blood and herbs, the metallic tang of iron filling every breath I took. The healers worked frantically around him, their hands red, their voices sharp and urgent. I stayed pressed against his side, gripping his hand so tightly my knuckles burned white.“Hang on, please,” I whispered, my tears falling onto his arm. “Please… just hang on for me. You can’t leave me now. Not after everything we’ve been through together.”One of the healers snapped, “Lady Aria, you must step back—”“No!” My voice cracked, but I refused to let go. “I won’t leave him. Do what you must, but I’m not leaving him!”They exchanged glances, muttering, but none of them had the strength to drag me away.His chest rose unevenly, each breath a battle. Every time it hitched, my heart stopped with it. His skin was burning hot one moment and ice-cold the next. I stroked his hair, my tears soaking into the pillow beneath his head.“Alpha…” I whispered against
(Aria’s POV)The dungeon was cold, but it wasn’t the damp chill in the air that made me shiver; it was just the silence. That oppressive kind of quiet that presses against your ribs until you think your own heartbeat might betray you. I sat on the narrow slab they called a bed, my wrists raw from the ropes, my back pressed against the wall.It had been hours since Selene’s visit. Hours have passed since she looked at me with those silver eyes and told me I’d never see him again, no matter how much I wished. I thought I’d be numb by now. But I wasn’t. The ache inside me pulsed like a wound that refused to close, and it refused to go.The council had spoken. My fate was sealed, and tomorrow, they’d take me to the execution ground.I tried to be brave, oh moon goddess; I tried to stay calm, but the truth was I was terrified. Not of dying, but of dying without seeing him one last time. Without hearing his voice or touching his hand. I’d been running from him for years, hiding from his lov
*A DAY AGO*The dungeon smelled of damp stone and despair. Aria stood rigid as the iron door creaked open, revealing Selene, mother of the Supreme Alpha. Her dark chestnut-brown hair shimmered under the torchlight, her gaze cold enough to freeze bones and the blood flowing through the veins.Aria’s knees buckled under the weight of those eyes. She had always stood her ground before her, but this time, she needed to be sober since she wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore and wanted something desperately, which only she could give.“Please…” she began, voice trembling. “I want to see him, just once. Before you…” She swallowed hard. “Before the council ends me.”Selene’s lips curled into the faintest, cruelest smile. “You think you deserve to see my son after nearly getting him killed? How dare you even open your mouth to ask for such a favor?”“I didn’t…” Aria’s voice cracked. “I’ve been running away from him ever since he brought me here. I never showed him any reason to love me or f
Orion didn’t know where to come in with all the fast actions towards her execution. Everyone was moving fast with their decisions, so she barely had any time to think. He knew what Selene was capable of and how ruthless she could be.She knew there was no time; the Alpha would wake up within the timeframe of the meeting and execution. Her action simply meant she doesn’t care if the Alpha resents her when he wakes up; Aria must go out of his sight and this world because Damien will look for every means to bring her back if she doesn’t die.“Are you not going to do anything like the beta? "Will she just die like that?” Niamh remarked with a concerned face.Her sigh was weary and tired. Everything happening in the mansion was beyond her control, and there was little that she could do as the Alpha was down in his subconscious state.The stress of the alpha not improving had already torn her into pieces as she tried to look for various alternatives for his treatment, but nothing seemed to b
Selene couldn’t keep quiet at the words Aria dished for her in front of the Alpha’s chambers. She felt insulted and stunned to the point she couldn’t talk back but when she got back to her chambers, the ideas began to flood in.“How dare she insult me when she put my son in harm’s way? I will make her pay dearly for this and show her what it means to step on my toes.” After a moment of pacing up and down in the room, trying to figure out the best way to calm her anger, she finally gave out a command that she should be thrown into the dungeon.“If the alpha wakes up to find out that she’s in the dungeon, he will not take it lightly with you.” Naomi chipped in with a warning toneSelene turned to her with an evil smirk. Her hands were tightly clutched to her back. “Do you think I’m going to leave her alive before he wakes up? Does he look like someone who will wake up in months to come? We don’t even know if he will survive this mess he dipped himself in.” Her head turned forward with
The cold air whipped through the jagged mountain path as the fifty carts rattled their way across the narrow trail. The men were busy discussing their plans after the trips, with subtle laughter accompanying the creaking of the wooden wheels that blended with the occasional clatter of grain sacks b
“What do you mean you can’t see anything? Has there been anything impossible for you to see?” Selene, the alpha’s mother, whispered to Yael, the pack’s priestess.She had gone for a follow-up visit after Yael came to the mansion upon her request. They have been friends for years and have always rec
|Aria|When I made the resolution to be beside him without giving him my heart, it was highly influenced by his mother’s actions. The way she ridiculed me for going out with Damien, and he ended up coming back wounded, as if that was my fault.As I left his chambers that morning after tending to hi
|Damien|“What do you mean by letting her go? Do I look like I have that in the plan?” my eyes changed to his response.He could read the room and paused to take a deep breath before putting his two hands on the table opposite me.“Do you want my advice as a friend or as a Beta?” he asked, choosing







